Quantitative sneezing: This year, Americans will miss 70 million days of work due to the flu. ThinkStock/Digital Vision

October 12, 2012

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Flu season is underway, and with it comes all the sniffling, lethargy, muddled thinking, pain, and missed work days symptomatic of the most contagious time of the year. All those sick hours add up, and the intrusive virus has both health and "financial repercussions," says Aaron Levitt at Investopedia. Here, a look at the economics of influenza: